UE E&C

UE E&C: OCBC upgrades to Buy with $0.82 TP (from $0.68) House met the mgt of UE E&C last week for an update. Despite the labour crunch in the construction industry and the cooling measures introduced by the government, mgt remains upbeat. The group has implemented productivity enhancement measures and adopted new technologies to facilitate work processes to help mitigate the tighter manpower constraints and rising costs. Meanwhile, the group has an estimated order-book of $600-800m, anchored by four key residential developments: Austville EC, Watercolours EC, Prince Charles Crescent and the new Punggol EC. House now roll forward estimate to FY13F and incorporate projections for the new Punggol EC project.